Search form

Pac-10 Women's Basketball Chat Wrap

Rhonda from Inglewood from espn.com at 4:15pm ETWho is your all time favorite SC player and why? Keep up the good work!!!

Ebony Hoffman at 4:16pm ETTina Thompson would be my all-time greatest because her game is so versatile and she can take you inside or out and she's unstoppable.Dwight from [216.113.128.171] at 4:16pm EThey ebony, congrats on a fine season. what's the best part of your game? rebounding or scoring? God blessEbony Hoffman at 4:18pm ETI would have to say the best part of my game is rebounding. Some say it's intimidating, and some say it's so powerfull that they just don't want to play against me anymore. Hopefully I put that type of presence on the floor when I enter the arena.Fan of #32 from [64.160.14.66], at 4:19pm ETHow did you get the nickname 'Big Dog'? Besides the won-loss record, what's the biggest difference between playing at Narbonne High and USC? Coach G appears to get very intense during timeouts. Can you describe how she acts at halftime when the team isn't playing very well?Ebony Hoffman at 4:23pm ETWell, my former high school coach's father gave me the name when I was in the fifth grade, and as you know Glen Rice's nickname is Big Dog, so that's during the era that he was so heralded. I was playing a great game that day, so he just started barking and calling me 'Big Dog.' The difference in playing at Narbonne and USC is that the high school game is slower and the college game is so much faster. The athletes work 110 percent harder and won't give up at all. During a timeout Coach just tries to fire us up as any coach does. When the momentum changes she may chew us out for the minute or so that she has. She let's us know you're letting go of the lead and that we either need to play harder or try to change the situation that we're in for the reason that the timeout was called.

Avery Fisher from dialinx.net at 4:24pm ETHi Ebony...I think you have come a long way...keep up the good work, I really believe you have the best coach. Do you think your team can win out the rest of the games? are you fired up for Stanford?Ebony Hoffman at 4:26pm ETI think we can win the rest of our games if we all just come ready to play. Every time that we show we're ready to play with the best we can beat the best. We hung with the No. 3 team in the nation, Notre Dame, which is No. 1 now. We beat Arizona here and we beat Oregon there, so I think we've shown that we can hang with the best as long as we bring our top game and come ready to play.Jen from customer.dsl.alter.net at 4:26pm ETHow do you feel about possibly becoming the first freshman to ever lead the league in rebounding?Ebony Hoffman at 4:28pm ETIt's always an honor to be considered one of the best and to be considered as one of the top freshmen. Just to be considered in that realm of stature is unbelievable. It doesn't matter if I win or if Nicole (Powell, of Stanford) wins as long as a freshman wins the title.Deuce from berkeley.edu at 4:28pm ETWhat's up Eb? It's Nnamdi, you ain't tight. Just Kiddin you ballin, I'm gonna see you when you come up north. See ya later, tell everybody I said what's up.Ebony Hoffman at 4:29pm ETThanks... I'll see you when I get there. Talk to you later.Dana from inetone.net at 4:29pm ETWhat's it like playing there at SC where the women's program has such a rich tradition?

Ebony Hoffman at 4:30pm ETThat was one of the reasons I came here was to hopefully continue the tradition that USC women's basketball is so used to having, and hopefully we'll be able to mimic what's been done in the past or overcome what hasn't been achieved.Ron from [209.240.220.165], at 4:31pm ETHi Ebony,You had an awesome high school career. Who's the best player you've faced, and who is the best team in the country?Ebony Hoffman at 4:34pm ETWould it be presumptuous of me to say no one? Whose the best in the nation right now? High school I haven't followed since I've pretty much put those years, behind me. College, I believe Notre Dame should be No. 1, even though they've lost to Rutgers, they've shown they can beat anybody and everybody. They probably had a mental lapse in that loss, andthey've been punished for it since they are no longer No. 1. I think that Notre Dame should be No. 1, followed by Tennessee.Chris from Los Angeles from usc.edu at 4:34pm ETWhat's it like to get all this media attention? Do you like to talk to the press? Is it something you're used to by now since you are from the LA area and have been covered for a while now?Ebony Hoffman at 4:35pm ETI'm pretty much used to talking to the media and saying what likes to be heard. Being from LA, I pretty much adapted to the media and to what people want to hear when an athlete speaks.Chris from Los Angeles from usc.edu at 4:35pm ETWhat part of your game do you plan on working on in the offseason?Ebony Hoffman at 4:37pm ETI would say becoming even more versatile than I am right now. Being able for my coach to have confidence in my game and putting me in the three position and bringing those big people out from the basket and taking them to the hole, as Stanford did against us and Arizona.Madge from los-angeles-56-57rs.ca.dial-access.att.net at 4:37pm ETHow aggressive do you find Pac-10 players and if they are, how do you handle it?

Ebony Hoffman at 4:39pm ETI think Pac-10 play is one of the most aggressive conferences out here right now, especially in the post. They are so much bigger and stronger. If you don't have the proper weight training, then you're in for a long ride in the Pac-10. You can't back down from anybody in the Pac-10. They try to intimidate you, but as long as you keep your ground, you'll be OK, with the Jenny Mowes, and Elizabeth Pickneys and Angelina Wolverts and the Carolyn Moos of the Pac-10.Butch31 from dialinx.net at 4:41pm ETEbony what are your pans for the summer? are you going to play b-ball, lift weights and run?Ebony Hoffman at 4:42pm ETYeah, that's pretty much my whole summer wrapped up in a nutshell. I have decided that I am not going to play with the USA Team this summer and work on a few aspects of my game that I need to work on... and to just play basketball, run and lift. Great question.Richard Mazzochi from [207.109.173.81] at 4:42pm ETHey Ebony, you were a fantastic high school player and have had a good freshmen year. Congrats on that. My question is who else came to you besides USC? What made you choose to Be a Trojan?Ebony Hoffman at 4:46pm ETHow many schools are there in the nation? I've had from Division III to Division I schools send me letters. I have 15 full cabinet-size cardboard boxes that are in my backyard at home, that I have no idea what to do with... I chose USC because I wanted to be an all-around person. I didn't want to focus so much of my life on basketball, which is already so much of the focus. I wanted to make sure I had a future ahead of me, which is not guaranteed in men's or women's basketball with the competitiveness. I wanted to make sure I had something to fall back on, and going to Tennessee or Connecticut wouldn't have fulfilled my personal goals as SC has the power to.Ebony Hoffman at 4:47pm ETI'll make sure I answer all the questions I didn't get to answer a little later... Check back on the USC website later on and the questions will be answered ASAP.